


Heart of Iron - the movie night

by Menatiera



Series: Bingo Fills [31]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: (permanently?) injured tony stark, Crack, Endgame Fix-It, F/M, Feelings, Fix-It, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Movie Night, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Tony Stark Has A Heart, heart of iron - the documentary, peter parker pov, retired tony stark, the stark family watches the documentary about tony together, tony adopts people
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:13:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26737921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Menatiera/pseuds/Menatiera
Summary: “You must be kidding me,” Peter said. It’s not like he wasn’t willing to sacrifice himself in many ways for the greater good (which in this case meant the happiness of his chosen people), but he figured there should be a line to draw in the sand even in that regard.Tony apparently wasn’t on the same page, because he raised an eyebrow in challenge. “Either this or you can watch Trolls with Morgan again; it’s your choice.”~~~Peter, Harley, Morgan, Happy, Tony and Pepper have movie night.Tony Stark Flash Bingo fill.
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark
Series: Bingo Fills [31]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1204474
Comments: 1
Kudos: 40
Collections: Tony Stark Bingo 2020





	Heart of Iron - the movie night

**Author's Note:**

> Title: Heart of Iron - the movie night  
> Collaborator Name: Menatiera  
> Square Filled: Tony Stark Flash Bingo 027 - Director commentary  
> Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26737921  
> Ship/Main Pairing: Pepperony  
> Rating: G  
> Major Tags: heart of iron - the documentary, the stark family watches the documentary about tony together, peter parker pov, endgame fix-it, retired tony stark  
> Summary: _“You must be kidding me,” Peter said. It’s not like he wasn’t willing to sacrifice himself in many ways for the greater good (which in this case meant the happiness of his chosen people), but he figured there should be a line to draw in the sand even in that regard._
> 
>  _Tony apparently wasn’t on the same page, because he raised an eyebrow in challenge. “Either this or you can watch Trolls with Morgan again; it’s your choice.”_  
>  Peter, Harley, Morgan, Happy, Tony and Pepper have movie night.  
> Word Count: 4250
> 
> Note: the fic is unbetaed, so sorry for every mistake and grammatical error. If you want to help me fix them, let me know!

“You must be kidding me,” Peter said. It’s not like he wasn’t willing to sacrifice himself in many ways for the greater good (which in this case meant the happiness of his chosen people), but he figured there should be a line to draw in the sand even in that regard.

Tony apparently wasn’t on the same page, because he raised an eyebrow in challenge. “Either this or you can watch Trolls with Morgan again; it’s your choice.”

Peter shivered, his spidey sense tingling with the implications. He liked Trolls, for the first time, even for the second and the third. Then it started to get old, and around the seventeenth rewatch, Peter decided that going on for another round with a supervillain beating his ass would be less painful than the headache this movie gave him.

Morgan was his super adorable and super genius sister, but she also was very much a little kid in some aspects.

“Fine,” he sighed, and Tony pumped the air with his left fist while grinning triumphantly.

Honestly, sometimes Peter questioned who was the adult and who was the teen among the two of them, but he couldn’t help smiling back to his fath-- mentor.

*

**“HEART OF IRON,”** announced the title with bold red and gold font on the screen. 

Tony tsked with his tongue. “I should’ve left a will that permits anyone to use red and gold colors in commercial use of my name or legacy,” he mused. “Have an original thought, people.”

“You kind of lost that privilege when you decided to use them as the main colors of your armor,” Pepper pointed out.

“Then I should’ve claimed royalties,” Tony pouted.

“You lost that privilege when you died,” Pepper reminded him, patient but firm as ever.

“Still.”

They were all sprawled out on the various surfaces of the living room: Tony laid on the couch, as he was still mostly bedridden, even though the battle with Thanos was seven months ago in the past. He didn’t heal at the proper speed, and so far mostly everyone avoided to voice their concern about it. Except, of course, Tony himself, who complained often and loudly.

But since the Hulk himself also still sported his injuries from the Infinity Stones, it was reasonable that Tony, as human as he was, wouldn’t heal easily either.

Morgan sat in Harley’s lap on one of the armchairs, the other boy’s never-resting nature an asset in this case, as Morgan loved the rocking sensation that came with Harley bouncing his legs constantly.

Pepper had her desk overrun by paperwork so she decided to do some while dividing her attention between contracts and the screen, and Happy had the other armchair, at least as much of it as the family’s spoiled cat left for him. It seemed rather uncomfortable, and Peter had to grin at that - he and Happy made peace and even liked each other by now, but there was a sort of friendly teasing between them that Peter would miss otherwise.

And of course Peter was there too, but he decided to sit on the wall, his soles and ass firmly adhered to the beige wallpaper as he rested his elbows on his bent knees. It was the easiest way to keep a breath of distance between himself and the others, and he had a feeling he’d need it in the next 114 minutes.

The narrator had a deep, even voice. Not as rich as, for example, Morgan Freeman’s, but it was nice to listen to, as the documentary started to list Tony’s accomplishments through his life. Tony loudly groaned for at least half of them.

Harley was probably on the same thought process as Peter, though, because he spoke up, “why couldn’t they get Morgan Freeman to narrate this?”

Before anyone could answer, the introduction was over, the movie went straight to the life of child genius Tony Stark. The adult one present wasn’t pleased. “They missed out the roller skate armor,” he complained. “Do they have any idea how hard it is to make roller skates that are durable enough for the weight of the armor?! It was an engineering miracle!”

“It was a dare from Rhodes, boss,” Happy corrected solemnly.

“Wasn’t Morgan Freeman among the snapped people?” Pepper looked up. “I guess he had more important things to do after the reversal than to voice a documentary.”

“That’s totally not the point, Happy. How do you think most innovations happen nowadays?” Tony challenged.

“With lots of brainstorming, countless hours of hard work, lab testing, and everything properly documented so the scientific community also accepts the results?” Peter risked to get involved, a small smile on his lips as he watched the chaos enfolding in front of his eyes thanks to his comment.

“Thank you!” Pepper noted pointedly.

“Bullshit!” Harley protested at the same time.

“I wish,” Happy shrugged in sync.

“Language,” Pepper sighed.

“Is Morgan Freeman’s voice like mine, or just his name?” Morgan chimed in.

*

The evening continued in more or less the same manner. Peter usually didn't like watching movies with people who weren't able to single their focus on said movie, but this group was the exception. None of them were ever able to stop multitasking, let that be discussion or working while the film went on or anything else. They were considerate of Peter's need of focus, though, so they were always careful to pick something that Peter wasn't as interested in for the need to actually focus on it, like in this case, or something that he'd seen already at least once.

From his elevated vantage point, Peter watched as Pepper made good progress on her paperwork, and as Happy's head started to tilt down with sleepiness. Harley played air five with Morgan to keep the little mistress' attention at bay during the seemingly 'boring' movie. As much as family-friendly this documentary was and as much as Morgan adored his daddy, it just wasn't in a league with Frozen and Care Bears.

Still, Peter mostly watched the screen - or Tony.

*

Tony, who had a lot of opinions about what was going on with the documentary about his life.

Some of them were quite… innocent.

“What is that hair?” Harley asked at one time, squinting at some paparazzi shots of their fath-- mentor during the ‘80s, “no, scratch that - what is that  _ shirt?!” _

To be fair, it was indeed horrendous. Peter never had seen Tony with long hair before, and honestly… he could see the reason why. But the shiny, at first glance seemingly latex tux with see through net-shirt underneath was probably considered a fashion disaster even in that era.

Pepper looked up just in time, and let out a startled laugh. “How come your stylists let you out in that?”

And that of course resulted in a fake-angry rant from Tony praising his own impeccable fashion sense, and Peter marginally relaxed as he listened to the pair’s banter. His eyes momentarily met with Harley’s, and they smiled at each other, content.

*

Other comments weren’t as innocent or subtle. 

The documentary managed to praise Howard Stark for the great education he had given to his son, meanwhile barely mentioned Maria Stark’s influence on the young hero’s upbringing, let alone the Jarvises.

Peter didn’t expect anything else, especially after Happy and Rhodey admitted that they were both asked to answer a few questions for this documentary and they expressed their dissatisfaction about said questions, but he could imagine that it was a sore topic for Tony.

“Howard was a condescending dic...tator who didn’t give or teach me anything,” Tony stated, almost calm. Peter figured becoming a dad probably resulted in him making peace with his own father not being a good one, because there were none of the acerbity in his voice nowadays when Howard as a topic came up. “But whoever wrote this text should’ve been fired for not talking about Mom.  _ She _ was the one responsible to pick schools and whatnots for me, and as of home education? That was entirely on Jarvis!” Tony fumed, the bitterness back, mixed with fondness and some other emotion Peter wasn’t able to properly pinpoint. He felt it though - it was the same emotion that flooded him when it came to Uncle Ben, the one that made his throat tight and his stomach flutter and his chest warm yet heavy.

“JARVIS was there already?” Morgan saved the day, as always. She had a spectacular sixth sense to divert the conversation when it was most needed.

“I believe the Boss didn’t refer to my big brother, Miss Morgan,” Friday spoke up, giving a moment for everyone to compose themselves, her modulated tone conveying a warmth that no other AI would’ve been able to show. “But the AI JARVIS was modelled after human Jarvis, and he and his wife Ana Jarvis were there already, yes.”

“I’ve told you about Ana and Edwin, didn’t I, sweet pie?” Tony asked, and Morgan nodded. “Good. Once you’ll get a little bit older, I’ll continue telling more stories about them. They were wonderful, and you know what? They had a lot of tricks up in their sleeves to help young children during hard times. You’ll see.”

Morgan made a face at that, not fascinated by either the prospect of those stories or the promise that she can get them only later, it was hard to tell, but Harley tickled her side, effectively distracting her, and at the best moment.

*

The documentary went on to teenage and young adult Tony’s lifestyle, resulting in yet another rant.

“Listen, kids, drinking is not fun, it’s not cool, it feels like sh… it feels horrible afterward, sometimes even during, no that’s a lie it feels good during it but only because you aren’t aware half ot the crap you’re doing, and it’s not worth it, believe me. Don’t drink and drive. Don’t do anything after drinking, like, seriously, you’ll regret it. Maybe do some inventing, but only on paper, not in practice. Hey, Pete, remember what I first told you? Don’t do what I’d do. That kind of still stands currently but it double stands for young me. Capische?”

“This film really tries to glorify your playboy days, Daddy,” Harley teased.

Tony shuddered. “This film really missed the point, again.”

And they were only 15 minutes in.

“Like they missed the point to at least mention your sexual orientation,” Pepper said without looking up.

Because Pepper, as amazing as she was, also liked to rile her husband up. And indeed, it was like watching a pufferfish, Peter could almost see Tony’s cheeks exploding as he gesticulated wildly with his left. (Thanks to everything his right arm was still held in place with braces, otherwise he probably would’ve injured himself further.)

“EXACTLY! The amount of time everyone speaks about the women I was with, how much would it hurt them to admit that I was with just as many men too?! How annoying it is that it was enough to even look funny at a female and the tabloids were planning our marriage, but Platypus could bridal carry me home after a long night and no one batted an eyelash or started to speculate about us? I mean, honestly, it was kind of disheartening that it didn’t even occur to most to accuse us. We almost broke up over that once.”

Peter and Harley perked up at the same time, but the older teen was faster to yelp, “Wait! Break up? Like, break up break up for real?”

“Very eloquent,” Peter teased, more out of a sense of sibling duty than actual need, because he too was curious of the answer.

“We had a period when we were dating,” Tony waved like it wasn’t a big deal.

“I thought James was straight,” Peter said before he could think better.

“And he is with Captain Marvel!” Harley added in an almost shriek. Morgan giggled and rolled her eyes. Happy startled awake from his snooze for a moment, and absent-mindedly grabbed the cat to put it in his lap before snoozing back.

“He is,” Pepper confirmed.

“I think bicurious is the word you’d use today?” Tony looked from one to another teen, ignoring the screen in favor of watching their expression, “There was a time when he tried out a few things. Well, we all did, honestly. It wasn’t even bad, it’s just… wasn’t the big romantic love that most people dream about. We didn’t as much break up in the end as had an agreement that despite the mutual love, our feelings are not like  _ that  _ and we both prefer to be best friends.”

“And Uncle Rhodey is the best uncle in the world,” Morgan chimed in again - and from her perspective, it probably was an aspect more important than the news that her Uncle and Daddy once dated. Peter wasn’t sure if she didn’t understand or didn’t care, but given how smart she usually was, he suspected the latter.

Then again, she was raised in a household where these topics were not taboo and were easily explained to her every time a question came up, not in depth but in a clear way that didn’t leave space for the hatred or fear accompanying the unknown.

“Without a doubt,” Tony agreed.

“Well,  _ I  _ personally have my doubts, seeing some of the gifts he brings,” Pepper mused, “that drum set was just cruel.”

Peter suddenly found the documentary very interesting and stared at it to avoid looking anyone in the eye. He wouldn’t want anyone, especially Morgan who was pouting at the memory of her beloved past drum set, to know that Tony paid him ten bucks to ‘accidentally’ break the thing to save the family from the noise.

*

The room was almost calm and content for a few minutes, Morgan yawning more and more, as the documentary failed to keep her attention at the relatively (for her) late hour.

_ “But then came Virginia ‘Pepper’ Potts, the hopeful gold-digger…” _ the narrator said, and hell broke loose.

“What the fuck?” Tony was already halfway on his feet. “Who wrote this, what braindead editor let this go through, how the--?!”

“Sit down, Tony,” Pepper ordered sternly, while she stood up and walked over to push his husband back onto the couch by force if necessary.

It was definitely necessary. Tony showed no intention to obey.

“No, no, darling, that’s not, I won’t let that stand, this is outrageous, how dare--”

“Tony,” Pepper sighed, more exasperated this time. “You act like this is the first time the media assumes that we’re married because I’m some sort of femme fatale who seduced you for your money.”

Peter and Harley made sure to stay motionless to avoid being spotted by the arguing couple, and this time Morgan followed suit. Or maybe she fell asleep in Harley’s lap. Peter couldn’t see because Pepper blocked the visual to confirm it. But even if that were the case, Peter assumed she’d wake up to her parents arguing, as it was so rare nowadays.

“That’s not the same, honey,” Tony reasoned, his voice still raised. “Who cares what a gossip site says, not even the people who read them believe them. And to each one that says you’re the evil mistress, there is one to say you’re an angel in human form. But a generation of people will see this documentary and to some this will be their only source and this won’t be argued by a dozen other one!”

Harley cleared his throat. “Hey dad,” he added, so casual, and Peter envied him so much for that. He could call Tony like that and no one batted an eyelash. Peter would never have the nerve to follow suit, no matter how he secretly died to be able to.

“Not now, squirt. I’m about to call Legal and…”

“Maybe you should listen to the whole thing first,” Harley suggested, hiking Morgan up a bit in his lap and arranging her limbs for more comfort. “Cause they kinda take it back.”

Pepper and Tony turned back to the screen. Peter could definitely see Tony’s face softening, the wrinkles around his eyes going less hard and defined as the narrator explained how Pepper proved her worth and earned the respect of everyone way before dating between her and Tony was even on the table.

“They still dared to use that term,” Tony grumbled, petulant. 

Pepper sat back to the desk. “I’m sure this anonymity of yours won’t last forever, Mr. Stark, but I must assume you’ll save the reveal of your survival for something bigger than some parroted name calling,” she said.

Tony’s eyes didn’t flicker from the screen. His voice was steady. “I’m done with heroism. I gave the world everything I could, for way longer than I should. Now it’s time for others to go on, and let me rest while they do the heavy lifting.”

He didn’t look at him, but Peter still felt the words pointed, aimed at him. 

Harley looked at him, and shook his head a bit, but that didn’t help with the feeling at all.

*

“If they praise Howard one more time, I’m going to shoot someone.”

“Retired, honey, remember?”

Peter snorted juice in his nose at Tony’s crestfallen expression.

*

Two hours after starting the movie, Peter finally touched down on the ground and stretched his back. Morgan and Happy were both fast asleep, the former cradled in Harley’s arms, the latter squishing the cat in a way that would earn several scratches if Peter were to copy. Pepper finished working sometimes around one and a half hour mark, and joined her husband on the couch, and they were watching the rest cuddled up together.

Coincidentally, Tony got quieter around the same time, his commentary and grumbling running almost completely out when soothed by her.

“It wasn’t as bad as I expected,” Peter risked to note. Even though Happy, still asleep in the armchair, would probably disagree.

Tony’s smile was tired. “I have several complaints.” There was a breath of pause, and by the move of his head, he checked how deeply Morgan was sleeping. Apparently satisfied, he continued. “The way they introduced Pepper, the way they gave credit to Howard for things that had nothing to do with him, just to mention some of the most atrocious ones. And the blatant racism of sidelining Rhodey and not giving  _ him _ the credit that is due to him. I mean, that was very worrisome and problematic. The new Avengers will have to have a better handle on who can manage their narrative because this should not happen with them. But at least they didn’t say SI was great because of the weapon manufacturing and gave some highlight to the sustainable energy developments. Not nearly enough though…”

His rambling was silenced by a kiss from Pepper.

“You, Mr Stark, need to rest after this,” she ordered.

“If I have to, Mrs Stark,” Tony grinned up at her, despite the obvious signs of exhaustion.

“You have to,” Pepper said. “Peter, come give a goodnight kiss to your dad. Harley, you too.”

Peter froze mid-motion. He had been ready to sneak away, but this… this stopped him in his tracks, heart suddenly pounding really loud in his chest. There was no mocking in Pepper’s tone, neither alarm or warning; it was a casual order, one of the many she always gave without doubt that it’d be followed upon.

Panic crawled up in Peter’s spine. It was… must’ve been a mistake.

But Harley indeed moved without question, bracing Morgan in his arms as he stood up and bent over to drop a sloppy kiss on Tony’s forehead, earning a quiet laugh from the man and a low chuckle from the teen. It was an absolutely domestic scene, especially with the sleeping Morgan still in Harley’s arms between them.

Harley’s eyes turned to Peter, and Peter felt like a deer in headlights. This, this was going to be the moment - Harley was going to notice something on him, and will expose him, will tell the others how much Tony means to him and will ruin everything.

If anyone knew that he really thought of Tony as a father figure sometimes… often… always, that he started to  _ really  _ see him as one, that Tony’s care meant this much to him; it was going to be taken away. Tony would be alarmed, maybe even embarrassed, Tony would correct him, maybe even send him away to get the necessary distance between them. Tony cared, sure, but why would he want to think Peter as a  _ son? _ He wouldn’t. 

And Harley would see this, Harley was smart and would notice and put two and two together and tell Pepper and Tony and they were going to send him away, they will forbid to visit until he sorted this out in his head, they were…

“Oh honey,” Pepper said, and her arms were around him in a tight hug that Peter barely felt. “I don’t know what’s going on in your head, but I can see it’s not pleasant. I’m sorry if I overstepped, Peter.”

There was some muffled whispering, and Peter heard steps walking away, and his chest hurt with how tight it felt, but then Tony was right there next to him as well. Tony wasn’t walking away. Harley was; giving them privacy.

“I think it’s the other way around, isn’t it, Pete?” Tony said, so quietly, and he was putting his left hand on Peter’s shoulder. His touch felt hot even through fabric. “Kid… look at me.”

At first he couldn’t, but none of them were moving, and the clock was ticking really loud on the wall, reminding Peter that everyone was waiting on him, so he finally managed to turn his head. Looking anyone in the eye would’ve been too much at the moment, but he was able to zero his attention on Tony’s face in general, which was good enough.

“I… I mean it, Peter, and Pepper did too. You are… well. Important to us. Not just as an intern, you know, and not just as a superhero and all that. It’s… I’m sorry I wasn’t ready to admit that back before, but we missed you so much while you were gone. I should’ve told you sooner, but… you’re my kid, Pete. Well, our kid. You’re part of this family, always will be.”

Peter wasn’t sure when exactly had he started crying, but he was aware of the tears rolling down on his burning cheeks and his stifled sobs. His limbs felt too cold, in comparison to the warmth in his chest. 

He had lost his parents before he fully understood the world, and their absence was an emptiness in his life that he learned to live with; Uncle Ben and Aunt May had done their best to raise him, but Uncle Ben also died, and for a while it had only been him and May.

Then the bite had come and Tony had rolled into their life, and changed everything, both at once and gradually, and after a while Peter wasn’t that alone anymore. He had tried to fight it, to suppress it, not wanting to bother Tony with his childish attachment - because he wasn’t a child, and because Tony had way better things to do than to babysit his intern.

Peter always tried to suppress this, to not call Tony father in his head, to fight the urge to hug them or…

But now Pepper called Tony  _ his dad. _

Like it was real, and not just in Peter’s head.

And Tony  _ confirmed it. _

“Ye-yeah, dad,” Peter managed to choke out, not sure what he confirmed exactly. Nothing. Everything. That he wanted to be part of the family. That Pepper didn’t overstep and Tony was right and Peter was so damn lucky.

He was crying, a hot mug of tea pressed to his hand, and he was pushed to sit on the couch, Tony on one side and Pepper on the other, both hugging him and rubbing his back.

“It’s okay, Peter,” Pepper murmured from time to time.

They had come so close to losing Tony; he nearly died in the battle against Thanos, and Peter sometimes still had nightmares about that possibility. He was genuinely glad that Tony stopped superheroing, and decided to reinforce the rumors of his death instead, retiring the only way someone of his caliber could.

Peter was so damn lucky to still have him. Them. All of this. A family.

May was still his aunt, the only blood relative he had, but he also had this. And it wasn’t separated either - not since May knew his secret and started to pester Tony about Spider-man, and definitely not since May started seeing Happy. The line between blood and found family had been starting to blur long ago, and now it was completely gone - and Peter was happier than ever in his life. So happy, in fact, that he couldn’t handle it without crying, and clinging to Tony and Pepper.

_ His dad and mom. _

His chosen family.

And the family that also chose him.

They remained cuddled close on the couch after his tears ebbed and his breathing evened out. The clock wasn’t ticking as loudly anymore, and time mostly lost its meaning anyway. After his previous panic, Peter was calm but also exhausted.

“Let’s get you to bed,” Tony sighed after a while.

It was good to be at home.


End file.
